Safe Haven

5 Thoughts For Today 5. We skipped the spring after the extended winter, and went right to summer. St. Louis, everybody! 4. It probably won't rain until September 30, now. 3. Yes, this is Watergate-level bad, Mr. President. Better get out now. And if you're lucky, Don Cheadle will star in a semi-sympathetic biopic in 30 years. 2. OK, it will be Jaden Smith. 1. Anybody who hopes Gosnell goes to Hell REALLY doesn't understand the gravity of what they say.

We sat in section 147. That is essentially field-level, to the right of home plate. We could hear the pop of the catcher's glove, and the crack of the bat. It was plain to me that the umpire at home was "squeezing" the pitchers; that is, he wasn't calling strikes. As a result, the score was 3-3 after 2 innings. The Mets as a club are in a bad way. They didn't have a chance without the extra walks granted by the stingy umpire. In all frankness, I did say that both Stevie Wonder and Ronnie Milsap could better call the game. In my defense, I did not yell this at the umpire; I merely shared it with my mother. Lance Lynn, who was the starting pitcher for the Cardinals, shut down the Mets for 5 consecutive innings before the Cardinals scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th. They pinch-hit for him in that inning, so he was correctly and justly awarded a win. Those runs were the winning margin. There is a magic to baseball, and to these Cardinals. It is very early, bu...

1. Communion with God is the fulfillment of the human person; 2. God is offering that communion, and indeed, obligates man to seek it; 3. That communion requires of man the total submission of himself to God in a loving, filial relationship; 4. The purpose of theology is to know how to enter into that relationship; (and secondarily, to begin to understand the nature of it) 5. The basis or driving force of theology is God's self-revelation for the purpose of communion with man; 6. God cannot deceive or be deceived; 7. Therefore, God must safeguard the truths of theology and make them accessible, based upon His nature and intent.

Actually, with profuse apologies, knowing God is not like knowing your auto mechanic in an important way. I absolutely agree that natural knowledge, having been forced to acquire a level of certitude well beyond what is required for living and acting, caused a severe curtailing of  what humans thought they could know. We moved from epistemic realism to idealism and nominalism, and now, a rigid empiricism rules the day. We cannot simply say that natural knowledge has been limited by bad philosophy, though it has. We must also preserve the truth that theology requires a higher certainty still. If theology--even after all caveats, qualifications, and disagreements about sources of revelation are laid aside--does not ultimately ground its conclusions in God, who cannot deceive or be deceived, it serves no purpose. In other words, we need absolute certainty in theology, unlike in other fields. For one to say, "I do not need intellectual certainty," one is first failing to disting...

This is a relatively new feature on sports video games, where one controls the finances, the drafting of new players, and of course, the game on the field. In actual sports, drafting is highly inexact. The 3-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady was the 199th selection in his draft. In most games, however, you can spend the time to make sure that a high pick is not a bust. My favorite thing to do is trade my roster's highest-paid player (a surefire star) for a very high draft pick. If you can get the same task done for less money, you do it, in this context. There are very few moral dilemmas related to justice when one's employees are super-rich. GMs have to be ruthless. The basic concept behind things like 'Moneyball' is to figure out what you need to win, and giving up the least to get it. The market value of a star will be inflated by his reputation, and by competition over his services. My insight was to figure out a style that worked for my personnel,...

http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2011/10/westminster-in-the-dock-reflections-on-the-peter-leithart-trial/#comment-23127 . This is the heart of the entire struggle. Forget the Catholic conclusion; doesn't matter as much as the question. Answer the question: What is the relation between my visible community, and the allegedly invisible Church? If it doesn't have real authority right there, it doesn't have any. See how the ecclesiology in its ambiguity drives doctrinal relativity? This is Newman's great insight. A person is compelled to find the basis for divine truth, not merely by a claim to possess it, but he understands that he himself must have been mistaken in his manner of apprehending it, in his method.

But this is good . Nor do I have an opinion on this particular matter, because A) I'm Catholic; B) the words don't mean the same thing within Catholic theology and praxis as in this context (or at least it seems unwise, based upon my knowledge and experience, to presume that the meanings of the terms are the same) and C) it seems like we need more precise definitions in general. On a personal note, if it is not manly to watch musicals--and like them--then here are my Man Cards. And yet, those cards would not be worth the paper they are printed on. Because that's stupid. You hear that, Driscoll? Stop turning manliness into an awkward health class video from 1978. One of the things I love dearly about "The Doctrine Of Humanity" by Charles Sherlock (quite apart from the bad arguments for female ordination, and that terrible Anglican/Protestant sacramental presumption) is that he includes a chapter on being a man, and one on being a woman. He says essentially that ...

I say this not as an apologist myself, though perhaps I am, but as one who looked and said, "Here are two horns of a dilemma, neither of which are conducive to the position I hold or want to hold, but one must be correct." There were about 8 of these. But let us concentrate on the Church. See, the Fathers insisted that apostolic succession was the principal means by which the Church was identified. The third party in all of this is the Catholic Church of today. So, the interesting problem is this: Both the ancient Church (pick a century; doesn't matter) and the Catholic Church agree that this is correct, and as a necessary inference, that therefore, the Church is fundamentally visible. One problem with the basic claim of the Reformers is that one cannot test their counter-claim (that "apostolic" refers to doctrine) in any meaningful way. Who will definitively establish the body of doctrine from which the ancients allegedly fell away? I have more choices than I c...

I went outside. The sun did seem to make things better. I do not know if I am still slightly ill, or if those friendly byproducts just simply do not clear from the body of a person like myself, but I have a light cough. The worst of the illness was two weeks ago. I feel fine, it's just annoying. And I worry that something worse may occur. I wonder how much Dayquil or whatnot you can take before it's a concern. Should I see a doctor? What will he or she do that I haven't tried? So there was that in prayer. And the acquaintance who has many hurdles in his attempt to study in America. And the heart-wound that won't seem to heal. I feel like the Lord is the only one who is for me on that one. But I thanked Him for the day, for the sun and for grace. I just walked along and prayed. I talked with the saints and the Blessed Mother, because I wanted to. And we do that. I appreciate liturgical prayers of many kinds; the worst error is to spurn them out of some sense of passion...

But there are things that must be done. Like this post. And to finish the Romans thing, I hope. In my view, you are absolutely right: Problems with Protestantism do not a Catholic make. But they might re-open an intellectual door or five. And that's all God needs. The Big Interesting for me was the relation between the Holy Spirit, the believer, and the ecclesiastical authority to which he submits, and why. If I was not already thinking in this direction, I doubt Mathison's book would have been so compelling and troubling. Everybody needs to ask themselves on very specific terms, "Why do I believe this and not that? By what means and to what end? I realized very quickly that the reality that most disagreements in theology were absolutely in good faith, and that made it "worse." If I can say it like that. This is what I mean when I call the problem the Tyranny of the Plausible. Because it is not as though to baptize one's children or not has absolutely no scri...

You are ROCKING OUT to the Gin Blossoms. Dude, that was '95 at the latest. Look, I'm sorry! I missed my 20s entirely. I cannot be 33; it's just wrong. Why did things happen this way? It's OK; I'll be fine in a minute. Sigh. And I'll get back to the matters at hand in a moment. But before I do, I'm going to listen to "Anna Begins" by Counting Crows like three times. What a great love song. Creepy, but great. I take Mr. Duritz in his metaphorical oddness to mean that he's afraid of commitment, and the things that make her Anna. [But is she real?--ed.] That's a good question. I always thought so. [You would.--ed.] What? The Somebody who actually matters has a different plan for my life than I do or did. It just makes you wonder if you took a huge wrong turn, or something is wrong with you (I mean, worse than normal). I know, stop thinking like that. [I wasn't saying anything.--ed.]

Everything stops at the church door. Fine, I admit it. I'm a politically conservative Catholic, so I'm inclined to agree with Dolan at the level of the political anyway, and tell these fascists to can it. But it doesn't really matter. If they were angry pro-lifers (even though that's an infinitely more worthy cause) WE DON'T BRING POLITICS TO MASS! Why is this hard? I don't know what you are doing, but when I enter the church, nothing else matters. I won't even talk to you unless you make me. One of the things I love about the Church is that one is generally expected to be quiet in sacred spaces. I was used to noise in the sanctuary in my protesting days, but I didn't like it. The other day, the priest told people to be quiet in the sanctuary; I was so happy. That's supposed to be one of the theological advantages the Church has over other Christian communities. (Yes, I intentionally phrased it that way to annoy you. Maybe you'll think crit...

I promise, I was going to do continuous work, like for more than an hour. But the truth is, I'm not built like that. I need two minutes to clear my mind and breathe. It doesn't matter how inspired I am. I just can't allow those minutes to become hours and days. I'm going to get off this keyboard and pray. That's what this is really about. Sometimes, you get a grace to know that you can't do anything without God. And I'm not so great and spiritual; I'm just telling you. I just don't care. I could be convinced that all the work and tasks before me are not as important as [fill in the blank]. You'd laugh if you knew. And then, you would cry. I'm glad you don't know what I'm thinking most of the time. I don't want to scare you. On the other hand, I'm a pretty simple man. If I tell you that I love you and I'm thankful for you, you'd find out that in the secret recesses of my soul, I think exactly that. It's more ent...

And love someone.  I think I learned something about God this week. He wants my heart. And yours. I can give him my heart even if I don't leave my office today. I can fail to do that even if I really do change the world .  I see God in people. This is how I know He has been at work. I saw a Rich Mullins clip last week. He was reflecting on writing the song "Hold Me Jesus," thinking about temptation, and he said, "I was talking it over with my spiritual director, and he said, 'Maybe it's not that you are so bad, it's just that you weren't meant to go out by yourself.'" I don't want to minimize anything, but how true that is! The priest in Confession told me to reach out a little more. [He told the likes of you to be even more outgoing?--ed.] Apparently. "Christ in mouth of friend and stranger." There are infinite levels of, "It is not good for the man to be alone." Quite aside from the obvious reading, I sense th...

We had to go early, if we wanted Confession. I feel compelled to say once again that this is the most misunderstood aspect in the life of the Church by outsiders. It is quite simply the second-greatest gift that Christ can give, after Himself. I have no idea how theologically accurate that is, but it's true. You'll hear people say, "Why do you have to confess to a priest? Why not go straight to God?" If you will forgive me, you do not know what you are asking. And to be honest, I won't give it back. It is a faithful testimony of God's love in the world that He has left to men His power to forgive sins. With apologies, I scarcely need a reminder of God's saving acts in history, as much as I need him to act here and now. To know that I, even I, am the subject of his loving concern is worth more than all the tent-meetings you care to imagine. So I prayed a decade of the Rosary, as the priest asked me to do. The penance isn't typically as onerous as pe...

In the course of the post-concert festivities, one of our group briefly told us about this happening to someone she knows. I was, and remain, so mad. I understand that it's more common than we realize, and that it's an opportunity to practice forgiveness in a huge way. And given how much the Lord has forgiven me, I don't suppose I can stand in judgment. BUT...all I could think was, I will cut you. First off, no one on this planet has had a more difficult time waiting on the Lord as a single person. Seriously, I don't want to hear it. I've got you beat. I'm sorry. No one is less inclined to this time of testing than me. So there's a special wrath that a single person feels at stories like this that I don't think can be replicated. I lament pretty much every day, wondering if there's someone out there for me, and this dude found his someone, and cast her aside? I cried a little. I don't even know this woman, and I still cried. I'm not going...

She held us like putty in her hands. When someone really has a special gift, when a musician has some offering to make, the best thing she can do is invite you along. And that's what she did. There's a magic that happens when you trust a musician; there's a special friendship between audience and performer where it doesn't matter what they sing and play; you'll go with them, and them with you. It's more than being a fan, but it's not less than that. It was mostly new material, but the thing is, it didn't feel like new material. It felt like we knew this, like we understood where it came from. It was a very intimate setting, no band, no guests, no big production. It was Audrey, a piano, and us, her new friends. And I think I understand that you have to earn the right to ask the audience to sing with you. She earned it. And the thing we sang was off-the-cuff, she said. We sang: "Lord, I need You/Oh, I need You/Every hour, I need You/My one defense...

Heresy. Actual heresy. In First Things. We are doomed! [But Leithart writes there often.--ed.] That was rude. [You were thinking it.--ed.] Fine. And just to be clear, I do not believe--nor am I permitted to, I don't think--that the creation account is a myth.

My favorite songwriter, and a legend. Thanks for asking. He wrote this song. And this one.  And this one.  You can hear him singing the background vocals pretty clearly. I don't know what to tell you. I daydream about writing a pop song half as magnetic as he's done routinely. His own albums blow me away. "For The Cool In You" is the perfect R&B/pop album. And that came in 1993, after the LP "Tender Lover" made him a star. Have you heard this one ? And cue the wedding standard. That last one was from 1996, off the album "The Day." It's incredible. The whole bloody thing. And then he got bored, and did a Christmas album, which gave us this. If that doesn't end up in a sappy picture slideshow of my life, someone's in trouble. That's all I'm saying. If you put out a greatest hits collection a mere 14 years after your debut as a solo artist, and it gets criticized for being incomplete, you've done very well indeed. ...

It's just too hard. It is not triumphalism, but rather, profound respect which leads me to make a conscious choice to avoid the occasion. I know enough theology to carry some semblance of sympathy for almost every non-Catholic Christian position you can name. I love so many hundreds of people in other communities, it seems as though my heart would burst if it were not kindled with divine Love, like the bush that was not consumed. It was that Love which drew me gradually toward the Church, toward a peace I could not begin to fathom. No sexual attraction could touch this. No charm can replace it. I won't date you because I love you too much to lie to you. Holy Mother Church always teaches with truth and love, by virtue of her special gifts, despite the failure of her children. Chief among them is me. That said, when she hits back, she hits back hard. You don't get back up again, theologically speaking. But her love is like a good jab that blinds to the overhand right behind...